May looks set to be a crazy month for live music in Manchester, and it kicks off with a few great shows this week…

On Tuesday, anti-folkster Jeffrey Lewis plays with his band (currently called The Junkyard) at Academy 3. His new album, Em Are I, is his best yet in our opinion – are is his current selection of comic book soundtracks. Support comes from Planet Earth and Coventry’s Don’t Move. Tickets are here.

Then on Wednesday, Football and Underachievers Please Try Harder are teaming up to promote a great indie-pop lineup: New Yorkers Bishop Allen, plus Amida and Married to the Sea. Tickets are only £6 and capacity at Cafe Saki in Rusholme is 120, so book now. Or much-touted local band The Jessie Rose Trip are also playing on Wednesday, at the Ruby Lounge. Tickets here.

Thursday brings a Drowned In Sound night at the Deaf Institute. This one features two great electronica acts in France’s M83 and German composer/producer Ulrich Schnauss. We rate both very highly – and apparently plenty of other people do too, as the show sold out some time ago.

And wrapping things up this week are Cambridge’s The Broken Family Band. If you like wonky, bouncy country songs, check them out. They’re playing at the Ruby Lounge on Friday. Tickets are £10 in advance.

There are some great gigs happening this week, so let’s get on with them…

Women – grungey types from Calgary – return for their first headlining show in Manchester, at Night & Day Cafe on Monday night. We reckon they sound like a throwback to the early nineties… in a good way. More info here.

On Tuesday, you’ve got a choice between Jagjaguar-signed Parts & Labor at the Star & Garter, Wild Beasts and Napoleon IIIrd at the Deaf Institute (a Bring on the Dancing Horses/Up the Racket co-promotion) and Canadians Wintersleep at the Roadhouse. We’d opt for a weeknight at the S&G, but don’t let that sway you.

Wednesday and it’s a Now Wave show at the Deaf Institute, featuring Black Lips and Crystal Stilts. This one’s already sold out so don’t get your hopes up.

On Thursday Manchester/London/Belfast indie-posters Help Stamp Out Loneliness are joined by the Empty Set (formerly of this parish), again at the Deaf Institute. It’s HSOL’s single launch and, as it’s also their Manchester debut, they’re promising a ‘VERY special guest’. More info here.

Then you can have a few days off! In fact, there isn’t much else going on until next week – so why not hop down to London for Owl Parliament on Saturday? It takes place and Union Chapel and features Jeffrey Lewis, Herman Dune, Laura Marling and Planet Earth. If you’re interested you’ll have to chance it on ebay.

I missed one gig off this week’s round-up – because I didn’t know about it at the time. Now I do though, and you should too…

Jack ‘brother of Jeffrey’ Lewis and two others are Fishermen Three, a garage band from Portland, Oregon – so it’s highly appropriate that tomorrow, Friday 6 February, they’re performing in a garage. Also on the bill for this ‘very Informal gathering’ are Nick Ainsworth of Former Bullies and someone called Calum Plowright.

The garage in question is somewhere in Whalley Range, though its address won’t be published. For directions, you need to email organisers Comfortable on a Tightrope or text 07724 827 738. Be nice and prompt about it too – there’s obviously only room for a few dozen people.

Though he sounds less rocky with his current band, here’s Jack sounding pretty Pavement-y with the Cutoffs in 2006:

And if you can’t wait to see Fishermen Three, they’re opening for the Cribs tonight and tomorrow at the Ritz. The Sub Pop-signed Thermals also play.